“Its sad that I had to think about it after he perished, Dirty was the life of all of us”
– Raekwon (taken from his The Next 48 Hours: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt II series)
Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of one of Hip Hop’s greatest personalities, Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Born Russell Tyrone Jones, Ol’ Dirty collapsed at The RZA’s recording studio, two days before his 36th birthday.
Known by a list of aliases including Dirt McGirt, Dirtbag, Ason Jones, Ason Unique and my personal favorite Big Baby Jesus, O.D.B. will forever will be missed by a wide plethora of music fans, not just by those who listen to Hip Hop.
Earlier this year, during my time at indie record label One Little Indian, I had a totally unexpected conversation with their American Rock and Roll artist, Dan Sartain about Ol’ Dirty. As a result of my ignorance I saw us as two people that wouldn’t necessarily have much in common, with me being a Hip Hop head and Dan being an Alabama born and raised Rock and Roll, however we ended up having the most emphatic conversation about Wu-Tang and O.D.B. than I have ever had with any fellow Hip Hop fan…
One of the many things we agreed on is the fact that people, including myself, didn’t appreciate Ol’ Dirty enough, nor his talents as an ill MC when he was alive, talents he displayed on such albums as Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and his debut solo album Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version. Aside from being embarrassed about my prior ignorance, I walked away from the conversation with the biggest smile on my face knowing that I had meet someone that was as much of a fan of ODB as I was but, most importantly, with the understanding that there will NEVER be another Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
He wrote the blueprint for Kanye’s microphone grabbing incident at the MTV Awards, when he stormed the stage at the 1998 Grammy Awards after Wu-Tang Clan lost in the category best Hip-Hop album to Puff Daddy, and with that I can honestly say, many so called ‘Hip Hop artists’ today are lucky that Ol’ Dirty isn’t around to say whats on his mind.
Ol’ Dirty will be forever missed… On behalf of the Soul Culture family, I salute you.
Ol’ Dirty Bastard at the 1998 Grammy Awards:
A Hilarious Interview at MTV:
Ol’ Dirty & Wu-Tang Perform “Protect Your Neck” Live in 1993:
“Shimmy Shimmy Ya” – 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version:
“Brooklyn Zoo” – 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version:
“Stomp” – 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version:
Side Note… The documentary The Official Ol’ Dirty Bastard Biography will give you a great insight into the man behind the personality.
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